A 1921 Census search proves tricky

Continuing with my searches in the 1921 census, I next decided to investigate the whereabouts of my Hibbitt family. It should be noted that I'm not the only one to notice the poor job that's been carried out in transcribing this particular census.

Although the original record shows the correct spelling, I found my paternal grandpa (Charles George Hibbitt) recorded under the name Hibbits. He was boarding with a family called Hill at 25 Trevanion Road, Wadebridge, Cornwall. At 22 years old, he was an Unestablished Skilled Workman in the Post Office Engineering Department. In other words, grandpa was working as a telephone engineer. He joined as a youth in April 1914, had a brief spell in the army at the end of WW1, and then went back to the G.P.O. until he retired. It's uncertain how long my Grandpa Hibbitt spent in Wadebridge but he was living in Tavistock, Devon, where most of his service took place, by the time he married in 1931.

My Grandpa, Charlie Hibbitt, at the telephone exchange
My Grandpa, Charlie Hibbitt, at the telephone exchange

My great-grandmother was Alice Hibbitt, nee Ridley, and I discovered her at 23 Clarendon Place in Plymouth. Although the road is no longer listed on modern day maps it was in the vicinity of Athenaeum Street, the Crescent and Crescent Avenue which are very close to the famous Plymouth Hoe. Alice is recorded as a housewife and, living with her, was her 24 year old daughter, Nellie, who later married Charles Martin. Mother and daughter lived together for much of the time, especially during the war and after my great-aunt Nell was widowed in 1942.

Alice and Nell Hibbitt at Wembury Beach
Alice and Nell Hibbitt at Wembury Beach

Although Alice and Nell appear as one household in the 1921 census, there was another family also residing at 23 Clarendon Place. Alice and Nell occupied three rooms and the Rendall family, consisting of two parents and a child, had two rooms. I know the Hibbitts were at Clarendon Place until at least 1923 because Alice's eldest son, Alfred Joseph Hibbitt, was mentioned as residing there in the court papers when his wife was seeking a judicial separation in January of that year.

What I haven't mentioned so far is the whereabouts of Alice's husband, Alfred Charles Newbold Hibbitt. Finding him in the 1921 census proved much more challenging than I'd expected. Alfred was a Chief Officer Coastguard in the Royal Navy and I already knew that he'd been invalided out of the service on 20th March 1920. Furthermore, I suspected he wasn't present at Nell's wedding in 1927 because my grandpa gave her away. I also knew Alfred had died in the Royal Naval Hospital at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, on 17th March 1928 and was buried in Caister Cemetery, located about 4.5 miles from the hospital. There's an interesting website about the hospital at http://www.rnhgy.org.uk

Inputting Alfred's name into FindMyPast's search didn't bring him up, no matter what name variation I tried. I needed to take another tack. I'd often wondered how long he'd been in the hospital before he'd died so I decided to look up the Royal Naval Hospital on the census. First, I went to Google Maps to see what street it was in so I could undertake an address search. Great! It appeared to be on Queen's Road or The Great Court but there was no mention of the hospital using the standard address search.

Not to be defeated, I did a bit of Googling to find out how to look up institutions in the census and I came across this web page. I was now armed with the Piece and Enumeration District numbers and was finally able to find the hospital pages in the census. The name of the Registrar was Lucy M Peaton and it so happens that she was the person who subsequently signed Alfred's death certificate. Looking through the transcribed names, I saw A Hilbert and thought this must be him. To be fair to the transcribers, in this case, the handwriting was awful and it's a wonder they even came this close. His age and marital status were correct and he was recorded as a Chief Officer C.Gd. in the R.N. I'd found my great-grandfather.

Alfred Hibbitt's name as it appears in the 1921 Census
Alfred Hibbitt's name as it appears in the 1921 Census

To me, it seems very likely he was in the hospital all the time from his retirement in 1920 until his death eight years later.

Great Yarmouth is about 350 miles from Plymouth and consequently, I wonder whether any of Alfred's family managed to visit him whilst he was there. This, we shall probably never know.

Alfred and Nell Hibbitt
Alfred and Nell Hibbitt

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Category: Ancestors Corner

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